Essential reading for Progressives

A List of Who’s Who in the Russia Investigation

Each day we hear names like Nunez, Papadopolous, Schiff, and Wray. All of them are connected in one way or another with the Investigation into Russian involvement in our 2016 Presidential election.

Because we hear the names and “Russian investigation,” so often we have become inured to the story. In case you didn’t notice, the Russian Investigation story is a big one. Very big, maybe bigger than Watergate. Most Americans have no idea how many people are directly involved. Prepare to be shocked. We won’t even attempt to guess at those who are indirectly involved.

Below is a list of the names you’ve been hearing. Most of them are somehow involved in the investigation story. Some have no involvement but because they worked in or for the White House during this critical period I have included them. 23 of those listed are no longer with the Trump administration and I’ve noted that in red. A few on the list are just marked Gone.That’s because I didn’t have the reason for their leaving. If there are names I’ve missed, and I’m sure there are, my apologies for not including them.

Donald J. Trump. Republican President of the United States

Devin Nunez, U.S. House Intelligence Committee chairman who was forced to recuse himself because of his strong ties to President Trump.

Robert Mueller. Appointed by Deputy Secretary of Justice Department Rod Rosenstein after the firing of James Comey to look into Russian interference with U.S. election. Director of FBI for 12 years under presidents of both parties. Highly respected lawyer and investigator. His team has quietly done its work despite the turbulence surrounding it. No indication as to when he will issue a report.

Mike Dubke, Resigned. White House communications director for about 2 months at beginning of Trump term.

John Kelly. White House Chief of Staff

Hope Hicks. White House Communications Director

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President’s Press Secretary

Michael Flynn. Fired National Security Advisor. Pleaded guilty to making false statements. He is now a convicted felon. His plea bargaining deal included a pledge to cooperate with Mueller investigation

Sean Spencer. Fired President’s Press Secretary

Paul Mannafort Resigned. Trump campaign manager

George Papadopolous Fired or resigned. No longer with Trump. He was a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI after he lied about his interactions with Russians who had close ties to the Kremlin.

Donald Trump. Jr. informal adviser to his father. Implicated in several meetings and other communication with the Russians.

Carter Page. Gone.Was listed by White House as a Trump foreign policy advisor. No longer with Trump in any function

J.D. Gordon White house advisor who met with Russian ambassador

Roger Stone – Gone.Former Trump adviser. Proud of his reputation as a “dirty trickster.” He repeatedly claimed during the 2016 campaign that he knew ahead of time of Wikileaks document dumps.

Michael Cohen — Trump personal lawyer

Sergey Kislyak — The Russian ambassador to the US Met multiple times with Flynn and with then Senator Jeff Sessions who when named Attorney General had to recuse himself.

Julian Assange — The founder of Wikileaks, Assange spearheaded the release of nearly 20,000 internal DNC emails last July, which US intelligence bodies unanimously concluded were hacked by the Russians.

Christopher Steele — A former British spy who compiled a dossier of allegations regarding Trump’s ties to Russia. Hired originally by Republicans, Democrats eventually were his employers.

Ty Cobb. White House Lawyer handling issues related to Russia

Steve Bannon. Fired. Was Trump chief strategist. He is now engaged in a war of words with his former boss after being quoted in Michael Wolff’s explosive Trump tell-all “Fire and Fury.”

Michael Flynn. Fired.Trump’s former national security adviser. Pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador. He is now cooperating with Mueller’s team.

James Comey.. Fired. The President fired the FBI director in May which led to the appointment of Robert Mueller.

Tom Price. Asked to resign. The former secretary of health and human services resigned. Spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on private planes.

Stormy Daniels. Porn Star . She says Trump’s lawyer paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump a decade ago. Payment reportedly took place days ahead of the 2016 election.

Preet Bharara. Fired. Bharra was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Refused to resign so Trump fired him.

Sebastian Gorka. Fired. Trump’s former deputy national security assistant and a self-proclaimed expert on radical Jihadism. Regularly carried two guns.